Time to Tune Reeds?

[David Lay]

I expanded the aperature below the brass plate and set its length to 8mm.  The tone is more stable now and seems to produce a steady reading.  I am able to use the fan at a low setting.  

My next challenge lies in the fact that my low tone reeds measure about 12 cents lower when in the concertina vs. the tuning box.

[Alex West]

1 hour ago, David Lay said:

My next challenge lies in the fact that my low tone reeds measure about 12 cents lower when in the concertina vs. the tuning box.

David

 

It's quite common for the reed frequency to be different outside the concertina from inside it's nice cosy acoustic chamber - in fact I'd say that's the norm (and Don Taylor made this point on Page 1 of this thread).  It's a good idea to make a chart (or some such) of the number of cents "out" the reed is inside the concertina, then you know how much have to adjust by (up or down) when you measure the frequency in your tuning rig outside the instrument

 

Alex West

Edited March 18 by Alex West
Adding reference to existing comment

[Alex West]

6 hours ago, David Lay said:

I am not quite ready to scratch any instrument reed tongues

David

 

Whilst it's common to "scratch" accordion reed tongues to tune up or down, it's better to FILE the root to lower the pitch or the tip to raise the pitch on a concertina reed.  This way, you avoid creating a stress raiser and a potential fatigue failure point in the middle of the reed.

 

Alex West

[David Lay]

1 hour ago, Alex West said:

David

 

Whilst it's common to "scratch" accordion reed tongues to tune up or down, it's better to FILE the root to lower the pitch or the tip to raise the pitch on a concertina reed.  This way, you avoid creating a stress raiser and a potential fatigue failure point in the middle of the reed.

 

Alex West

I have made a wooden file and have some 400 grit abrasive paper to wrap it with as offered in Dave Elliot's manual. 

Thanks for everyone's help.  It has been easy enough to figure out how to do this, but challenging to resolve how to resolve the quirks of the process.

[Don Taylor]

47 minutes ago, David Lay said:

I have made a wooden file and have some 400 grit abrasive paper to wrap it with as offered in Dave Elliot's manual.

I have used a 'stick sander' that I bought from Lee Valley:

 

Amazon sells them as well.

 

You can simply move the sanding surface to a fresh area once it gets worn, or replace the sanding belt with a new one.

 

I have made my own replacement belts out of wet and dry sandpaper, you need to use a strong adhesive tape to join the strip of sandpaper into a loop.